"What is your problem? I thought I gave you everything I could," Keeping his hand on the cheeks, Velian questioned with a displeased look.
Other girls were also standing behind him so, the group of representatives looked nervous as they bowed before the king. One of them stepped forward and spoke up his voice shaking.
They were afraid that Velian would take their position if they did something wrong in this meeting and it really kept them on edge the whole time.
"Your Majesty, we come before you to express our love and loyalty to you and your new royalty. However, we cannot ignore the sins of the past."
Velian furrowed his brow.
"Sins of the past? What do you mean?"
The representative cleared their throat.
"Your Majesty, we believe that everything about the old royal families and noble families must be gone. They are a symbol of corruption and oppression, and we cannot move forward until we erase that history."
Velian nodded slowly, understanding their point of view.
"I see. And what do you propose we do about it?"
The representative took a deep breath.
"We propose that all traces of the old families be removed from the kingdom. That means their names, their statues, their crests, everything. We want to start fresh with a new era of prosperity and equality under your rule."
Velian stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"I understand your concerns, but what I don't understand is why are you telling me this. I already did that, I killed all the corrupted nobles and confiscated their properties,"
All the representatives nodded their heads showing he was right but they had a different idea.
"Prince and princess should be exiled, even though they are not the main reason why we suffered, they still had a part in it," Aiko's face disfigured as soon as she heard that.
"I won't do such a drastic change, it would take time and careful consideration and it's not something human to punish children for their parent's fault. However, I am willing to hear your other suggestions if you have any."
The representatives exchanged glances before one of them spoke up again.
"Your Majesty, we also ask that the name of the kingdom be changed from Rapidclaw to one you would pick. Rapidclaw represents the old ways, while we like to see you represent a new beginning."
Velian nodded again.
"That's a fair point, I also thought about that but I didn't want to fully erase your legacy on my selfishness, but if my subjects desire a change, I will give you that," Velian said and looked at the other girls like he was asking for an idea.
"Hmm... Velian Kingdom," Daphnia said but before she could even complete Velian disturbed her.
"No! that's not right, I don't want my first name to be the kingdom's name, that's shameless,"
"Then we can use our last name, Keller," Sariya suggested to which Daphnia also nodded her head.
"That's good! Keller- Kellera, Kellesa," Velian thought with his brain going haywire to choose a new name.
"Kelleros... it has a nice ring to it. I will consider your proposal, but I must ask for more time to think about it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."
As the representatives bowed and left the meeting room, Velian couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and responsibility weighing heavily on his shoulders.
He knew that the decisions he made now would shape the future of his kingdom, and he was determined to make the right choices for his people.
Later that day, the rumours started to spread around the kingdom about Velian's decision.
"I knew he's not a cruel leader to punish those kids, besides they are not at fault,"
"I don't know which fool thought that harming kids was a good idea,"
While this was happening Julius look outside with his eyes looking outside the windows.
"So he declined it, as I thought things won't be easy, I need to leave this kingdom as soon as I can," Julius thought at least, Velian would decide to exile him. But this proved that they are not allowed to leave this city.
"Brother, why do you have to leave? Stay here with us? Sister-in-law explains things to him," Julie looked troubled by his brother's sudden change.
"Julie..."
Julius looked at her with a hard look and decided not to tell her the truth, since she didn't want her to ruin her newfound life.
He knew even though Velian gave them freedom, they were still being observed by Naomi's spies, especially Julius.
"If you have something you want to do? You can ask from brother Velian, he's not a bad person like we thought he is, he's just wild but he's not bad," Julie said in desperation.
"I know, I know, forget about it, how's your new boyfriend? Velian told me that you found someone, so he wanted to announce that you two broke up," Julius asked in an interested tone, as he wanted to know about Akiyo.
Julie blushed a little but she quickly answered.
"He's younger than me, but he's a proper man, he really wants the recognition of Velian, so he's a hardworking boy,"
"Invite him for dinner, I would like to meet him, I will decide whether I like him or not after that, but I won't object to your decision since you're a big girl now," Julius didn't want to be an annoying brother.
"Fine! Is that all you have to say, I need to help Akiyo with practices," Julie questioned to which Julius nodded his head, and she left the room with her heart still not sure about why Julius wanted to go outside.
"Dear!" As soon as she left, Julius' girlfriend quickly hugged him with a worried look.
"Don't go, it might be a trap, I don't want to lose you," Her face was full of worries.
"That letter, do you know how someone could leave that with that sign without Velian getting caught?" Julius questioned as his eyes focused on the letter that was lying on his working desk.
"I have to go, if the content of this letter is true, I have to meet him,"